PS3 piracy now a reality - report

Reports have emerged that a company has produced a USB-based full hacking solution for the PlayStation 3, and that is has back-up software now running on the Sony platform, according to Eurogamer's Digital Foundry.

If true, this would seem to suggest that it would be possible in theory for users of any PlayStation 3 retail hardware to run any kind of game code - even when running the latest firmware updates.

While such claims have been made before - and this one may end up as the latest in a long line - a video posted on a website appears to verify the reports.

If true, this will be a blow for Sony, especially as potential pirates won't require a Blu-ray burner to acquire copied games, as the hack works by streaming game data either from the internal hard drive or alternatively via USB flash drives or hard disks.

Sony representatives were unavailable for comment at the time of writing.